Atlantic Beach Considering Curb Extensions on Plaza

Atlantic Beach Considering Curb Extensions on Plaza

Article excerpt

Byline: Christopher F. Aguilar, Shorelines staff writer

After some residents of the 300 block of Plaza Drive asked this month for the return of speed bumps on the road, the Atlantic Beach City Commission will consider installing landscaped curb extensions instead.

"I am in favor of our speed bumps," Plaza Drive resident Clifford Dunlop said during a recent commission meeting. "Whether I like them or not, they controlled speed. They don't need to be fancy."

Several Plaza Drive residents spoke at the Feb. 9 commission meeting about the need for the traffic calming devices on the road and implored the commission to reinstall them as soon as possible.

On Monday, the commission will hear a report outlining the possible use of chicanes, or landscaped curb extensions, along the 300 block of Plaza Drive, which extends east from a five-points intersection adjacent to the police and fire stations. Commissioners will then decide which method of traffic calming -- chicanes, speed bumps or wider speed humps -- to use on the block.

Plaza Drive's 300 block is unique within the city because it has a city park separating the eastbound and westbound lanes. The stretch also has wide traffic lanes, which residents use to park their vehicles.

The chicanes proposal would reconfigure the road so there is a single lane of traffic each way with landscaped curb extensions filling the remainder of the traffic lane. The chicanes could take up part of the lane used by residents for parking.

Officials estimate the chicanes could cost about $15,000, while speed bumps and speed humps, which have a gradual incline and decline with a flat top in the middle, would cost a couple thousand dollars.

Since last fall, the Atlantic Beach commission has explored reinstalling the speed bumps on the 300 block of Plaza Drive. That section of the road had speed bumps for the past decade, but they were removed during work on the core city project, a water, sewer and drainage line replacement project that concluded last year. …